Chapter 439: Dream-Void Fluid
Time passed slowly. Outside the castle, the sun rose in the east and set in the west, and the moon quietly occupied the center of the sky.
Ace let out a long sigh. Wisps of Glazed Heart Fire emerged from his fingertips. With a slight hook of his finger, the magical material mixed with Void Solute and Dream Crystal landed in his hand.
The Glazed Heart Fire burned slightly. The runes inscribed on the two materials flashed with a milky white light, undergoing an incredible change under the burning of the Heart Fire.
“Power at 27%, optimal node.”
Ace recorded the efficacy while calcining the material in his hand.
Glazed Heart Fire was an incredible product. It was not a flame in the physical sense, but a flame in the metaphysical, spiritual sense. If understood using the Phlogiston Theory, emotions were its phlogiston.
Ace tried to perceive the Glazed Heart Fire using the Phlogiston Theory, and the entire Heart Fire actually became stronger and brighter. This forced Ace to marvel at the magic of the magical world.
The Glazed Heart Fire perfectly fused the two heterogeneous magical materials together, creating a material inexplicable by current magical theory. Ace looked at the material flowing like transparent crystal: “Possessing both dream and spatial attributes, and being a fluid substance, it can be called Dream-Void Fluid.”
The next day, in the reception room on the first floor of the West Tower.
Betty, Logan, and Bayen looked at the crystal-clear and dreamlike “Dream-Void Fluid” suspended in mid-air, a look of curiosity flashing in their eyes.
Ace said in a gentle tone: “This is the base, refined from Level 2 Dream Crystals and Void Solute. I call it ‘Dream-Void Fluid.’ Besides fusing the two characteristics of dream and space, the form of this material is indefinite. It will shape into different images according to your foundational spell models.”
Betty and the others reached out and caught the “Dream-Void Fluid.” It was silky smooth and cool to the touch. They hesitated no longer and stored the base into their mental imagery worlds according to the method in Theory of Natal Artifacts.
“Dream-Void Fluid” possessed limited real space and infinite dream space, which was very similar to the characteristics of a mental imagery world. The numerous runes inscribed on it by Ace further consolidated this trait.
Inside Betty’s mental imagery world, the root runes at the bottom rose and fell like seawater. The “Dream-Void Fluid” swam in the ocean of root runes like a happy fish.
Betty’s mind communicated with it, inscribing her spiritual imprint into it according to the method taught by Ace. This was a start. As long as the spiritual imprint was inscribed, she could effectively control the “Dream-Void Fluid.” But to refine it into a true Artifact, more time was needed to integrate her Will into it.
The “Dream-Void Fluid” cruised wantonly, constantly replicating Betty’s root runes. As Level 0, Level 1, and Level 2 runes were replicated one after another, the “Dream-Void Fluid” gradually took on Betty’s unique mana aura.
It leaped out from the sea of runes. Directly above was a spell model burning like the rising sun—that was Betty’s meditation spell model.
The rising sun suddenly fell, plunging straight into the “Dream-Void Fluid” and disappearing completely. The “Dream-Void Fluid” expanded abruptly, swallowing all the remaining spell models, and then transformed into a burning rising sun, suspended in the sky of the empty mental imagery world.
“It’s done. All spell models have been transferred into the base. However, I don’t really like the image of a burning sun. Let’s change it into a machine.”
Seeming to follow Betty’s will, the burning rising sun gradually shrank into a fist-sized fireball. Silver-grey metallic machinery appeared out of thin air, wrapping around it to form a huge mecha with a fireball energy core.
Just as Betty finished, Logan also opened his eyes. Their Grimoires became slightly hot.
Logan picked up his Grimoire, and a line of information caught his eye: “Purchased one Level 2 Dream-Void Fluid on credit via the Secret Vault. Deducted 3000 academic points.”
Looking at the negative one thousand-plus academic points in his account, Logan’s brow twitched. As one of the founders of the new theory, Logan’s current academic point earnings were less than two thousand. Apart from the initial evaluation reward after publication, points only increased by relying on citations by others.
If he didn’t publish pioneering, subversive, or major papers, he feared it would be difficult for his academic points to turn positive in the short term.
Seeing the frowning expressions of Betty and Logan after waking up, the corners of Ace’s mouth rose slightly: “Dream-Void Fluid is very precious. Do you have any opinions on its price?”
Betty pulled a long face: “We have no opinion, it’s just that my points are all gone now!”
Ace wore a mischievous smile: “If you need academic points, you can accept the missions I published in the Secret Vault. As long as you complete them, you will be rewarded with academic points.”
Betty looked at Ace with a puzzled expression, opened her Grimoire, and browsed the missions on it.
“Region Expansion: Wizards are currently mainly active in the Salia region. Pick up your confidence and perseverance, travel to other regions of the New Continent, and lead the small number of local wizard apprentices to ignite new torches.
“Mission Objective: Within ten years, train ten thousand wizard apprentices and five Official Wizards in that region, and establish a permanent stronghold.
“Completing one sub-objective is considered 30% completion; completing all three sub-objectives is considered 100%. Mission reward: 10,000 academic points, and pick three Level 2 magical items from the Secret Vault.”
Betty frowned. Although she wanted to develop wizard forces, opening up a new region was by no means an easy task. The counterattack from Divine Descendant nobles would make this mission extremely difficult.
Betty continued browsing, flipping directly to the last page. Looking at the routine mission column, her frown finally eased.
“Hunting high-level monsters, submitting Level 2 Wonders, Level 2 Materials… these missions aren’t difficult, just that the academic points are too few.”
While they were talking, Bayen opened his eyes. The other few looked at him curiously.
“I didn’t replicate my path’s spell model into the Dream-Void Fluid. In fact, I haven’t decided on my path yet.”
Looking at Bayen’s hesitant and confused eyes, Ace whispered: “The choice of path is indeed very important. Can you talk about your thoughts?”
Bayen cleared his throat: “I hesitated between the Water Model fed back by the Phlogiston Theory and the Astrological Language spell model. You know I have a magical die with the miraculous effect of precognition.
“Now I know it is a Level 2 Wonder. Many rune structures within it are ready-made. Perhaps I can use them with slight modifications.
“But there is a problem. This spell model imitated from a Wonder may contain many fallacies. Even if combined with the Astrology School, it cannot achieve definitive theoretical correctness.”
Ace nodded: “This is indeed a problem.”
Betty couldn’t help but say: “Although foreseeing the future is beautiful, such things are illusory. I think you can research it, but don’t make it your foundation.”
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